The wedding approaches

The day of my sister's wedding is approaching and we have all been given our roles. As well as reading something at the wedding my job is to look after my mother. She is a bit of a reluctant 'mother of the the bride'. She is not really comfortable with fuss and attention and once told me that if it wasn't for family pressures she and my father would have had a plain civil wedding. On her wedding morning she returned from a trip to the hairdressers and stuck her head under the tap to wash out what she considered a far too fussy hairstyle. Age has not moderated her views and the other day she said to me

"I hope you're not planning to get married soon. I don't want another one to go to!"

I looked up wedding etiquette in Lady Behave: A guide to modern manners (written in 1956, the year before my mother got married). In relation to the bride's mother, it says

" She is no longer required to dress up in any more than she would if she were going to a friend's formal wedding. The days of grey chiffon and a bouquet for her have gone.The smartest of brides' mothers we have seen usually wear a tailored silk frock or suit, not black, possibly a buttonhole and a rather gay hat and gloves".